Opus College of Business among U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 Best Business Schools

Clark Gregor

4 years ago

The University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business jumped 10 spots to its highest place ever in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of 2015 best graduate schools of business, published March 11. Among the 453 AACSB-accredited full-time MBA programs included, St. Thomas placed exactly 100th. The school’s Evening MBA program ranked 110th.

The school represents the only private business school in Minnesota to be included in the U.S. News & World Report “Best Business Schools” ranking. It fared fifth among the 21 colleges and universities in the five-state area found in the rankings.

“With gratitude to the hard work of our faculty, staff, students and supporters, we’re excited to have attained this new milestone for the St. Thomas community,” said Dr. Christopher Puto, who will conclude his 12-year span as dean of the Opus College of Business after this school year. Under Dean Puto’s leadership, the business school merged graduate and undergraduate business divisions, established the university’s first full-time day MBA program, achieved AACSB accreditation, doubled the full-time faculty member count and opened significant new facilities in Schulze Hall in Minneapolis and McNeely Hall in St. Paul.

U.S. News & World Report annually ranks graduate and professional school programs in education, law, medicine, engineering and business using a variety of scoring categories, including peer assessments, entrance exam scores and employment rates upon graduation. The 2015 Best Graduate School rankings are available on USNews.com and USNewsUniversityDirectory.com. The “Best Graduate Schools 2015” guidebook will be on newsstands starting April 8.

Harvard, Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania locked up in a three-way tie for the top full-time MBA program. The honor of the best part-time MBA program went to the University of California-Berkeley with two schools from Illinois, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, placing second and third respectively.